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Conformity to Technical Regulations of Customs Union (CU)

Russia offers some unique advantages over many established and developing markets. Many foreign businesses wishing to work on Russian market must first tackle the problem of National certification.

Russia has its own certification system for controlling the import and sale of goods and equipment – GOST-R. GOST means «national standard» and R stands for «Russia». Because there is no treaty between Russia and the European Union for the mutual recognition of certificates, experts must review the certificates to verify that they conform to Russian standards when machines, packaging and products for the cosmetics, food, chemicals and other industries enter the country.

One precondition for Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization was that Russia had to reform the Technical Regulations in order to harmonize the national standardization system with the European system and to raise it to a level that is consistent with the requirements of today’s business environment.

According to harmonization steps, instead of the old GOST-R system new documents of conformity will be issued (valid for three countries - Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus). In year 2011 more than 30 new technical regulations were approved GOST-TR replacing previous GOST-R. The transition process must be fully completed in 2015. At the moment, part of products have already been certified under the new rules.

The more clear borders are set to expand markets for businesses within the zone and make trading more competitive. Foreign companies already operating in one of the three markets could also benefit from easier access to other states within the union.

Uniform standards were developed – Technical Regulations of Customs Union, which are valid on the territories of 3 countries (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan).

Other countries that have expressed an interest in joining the union include Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Ukraine.